Credit: Geoff Thompson
Throughout the World Expo 2020 in Dubai, Luxembourg's Chambre de Commerce is organising a total of six trade missions to the middle eastern country linked with the World Expo 2020 that started in October 2021 and concludes in March 2022.
These trade delegations / missions have been linked directly with five business sectors (ICT; Space; Sustainability; HealthTech; Food & Beverage), with the Food and Beverage sector travelling from 13-17 February 2022 around the GulFood fair taking place at the World Trade Centre in the financial district of Dubai, located around 30 minutes from the World Expo site. The 120 m2 Luxembourg stand, organised by Luxembourg's Ministry of the Economy, included four companies that were exhibiting at GulFood, namely Luxlait (dairy produce), Moulins de Kleinbettingen (wheat products, flour and pasta), Panelux (bakery) and The Spice Collection. Other delegates on the Luxembourg trade mission included representatives from Charles de Lorraine, ChefPassport, F4A (Food4All), Glacier Bargello, iLagnide, Janissair Lux, Motor Development International, Novea Group, Villeroy & Boch and White House.
On the Monday morning, the Dubai Chamber of Commerce held a Breakfast Briefing: those attending learnt from Hassan Al Hashemi, VP International Relations at the Dubai Chamber of Commerce, that the industry is changing considerably with stakeholders embracing innovation to minimise disruption to food supplies. Dubai itself is a prime example of embracing change with a strong emphasis on business continuity and sustainability, with buzzwords such as "cloud kitchens" offering exciting new business opportunities and attractive trade opportunities built around key market trends. The World Expo also has over 200 food outlets.
The GulFood Fair is the world’s largest annual food and beverage exhibition, which is attracting more than 100,000 visitors from over 200 countries and 5,000 local, regional and international exhibitors from 185 countries. The Luxembourg stand is located between stands from France and Poland in Hall 2.
Steven Koener, Senior Advisor International Affairs at Luxembourg Chambre de Commerce, is coordinating Luxembourg's trade missions to Dubai in the context of the World Expo 2020 in Dubai. Talking with Chronicle.lu, he stated that "it has been a huge success, both quantitively and qualitivily, with over 200 business men and women participating in trade mission to Dubai. The Chambre de Commerce is a stakeholder in the Luxembourg Pavilion at the World Expo and, in order to optimise this presence, is organising a number of sectorial trade missions to "anchor" events in the UAE, i.e. professional trade fairs such as Arab Health last month and GulFood this month. This allows us to tap into worldwide networks of business contacts at these trade fairs in addition to local contacts". He added that the Luxembourg Pavilion is a fantastic opportunity for Luxembourg companies to get a foot in the door in the market, as was experienced following the Shanghai Expo 2010 when trade with China rose exponentially.
On Tuesday morning, the delegation went on a field trip to the DP World logistics hub in Dubai which comprised a presentation followed by a tour of the facility. DP World is located in Dubai as it has become a trading hub for the Middle East, Africa and India. Although Dubai and the UAE itself is only ten million people, Dubai offers connectivity to the other markets and geographical areas. In the UAE, DP World operates it main business units (ports and terminals, economic zones, logistics, marine services, technology). In Dubai, there is the Jebel Ali port and free zone whose economic activities represent up to 33% of Dubai's GDP. Dubai is the biggest port between Rotterdam and Singapore and is #11 in the world and has four container terminals. In 2019, the port handled 10,000 vessels in total, thanks in part to 25km of quay length. The port offers sea, air, road and rail connectivity, the latter to become operational in 2024. In the Freezone, around 8,600 companies currently operate, of which 500+ are in the F&B sector (including food processing, packaging, warehousing and some production). The main challenges for the logistics hub include different regulations in different markets, therefore requiring different labelling, etc. Cargolux currently flies 26 times per week to Dubai. Some delegates were interested in learning about logistics companies in Dubai in order to start exporting to Dubai / UAE.
Our next articles in this series will include interviews with Luxembourg company representatives who are participating as exhibitors and delegates, and then a visit to the World Expo 2020 in Dubai and the Luxembourg Pavilion.
